Bremerton School District levy forums start Monday

BREMERTON — Bremerton School District will host public forums starting Monday to explain details of two levies that will be on the Feb. 13 ballot.

Voters will decide on a two-year school support levy that would start in 2019, replacing the maintenance and operations levy that expires at the end of this year. The district also is running a one-year technology levy.

The school support levy supplements staffing not covered by the state’s allotment for basic education, provides for athletics and co-curricular programs, pays for specialty programs like dual language classes, covers 70 percent of the district’s cost for school nurses, and pays for school security staff, including a school resource officer, among other items.

The school support levy would generate approximately 7 percent to 8 percent of the district’s revenue over two years beginning in 2019. The collection amounts — $6.65 million in 2019 and $8.64 million in 2020 — factor in the projected increase in total property value within the district.

A new state law caps the school support levy rate at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value while adding a new state school tax. The intent is to shift the burden of paying for basic education off local levies, which originally were intended for enrichment activities.

If the levy is approved, property owners would pay no more than $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2019 and 2020. The rate could be lower but no higher than $1.50 per $1,000. At the levy cap, the owner of a $250,000 home would pay $375 per year ($31.25 per month) on the school support levy.

The $2.45 million technology levy would enhance systems that support student-accessible devices and help expand digital learning. The levy would provide additional devices at Mountain View Middle School and Bremerton High School. The tech levy would cost property owners 61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, $152.50 per year ($12.70 per month) in 2019.

In 2018, property owners in most districts will see a one-year bump in their total school taxes, as the new state tax kicks in before the local levy cap goes into effect in 2019. In Bremerton, the 2018 combined rate for the M&O levy, capital levy and state school tax is $6.70 per $1,000, compared with $6.38 per $1,000 in 2017.

In 2019, with the local levy cap in effect, the combined rate for the school support levy, tech levy, capital levy and state property tax would be $5.74 per $1,000. District officials point out that’s 64 cents per $1,000 less than the 2017 rate.

North Kitsap School District has a school support levy on the Feb. 13 ballot, the rate also capped at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. North Kitsap also is running a four-year, $40 million capital levy for improvements to buildings districtwide.